Monday, April 17, 2006

The Great White North & Rosemary's Baby

TOLEDO, Ohio (Reuters) - A 68-year-old Catholic priest goes on trial on Monday in the stabbing death of a nun whose body was found covered by an altar cloth in a chapel 26 years ago.

The Rev. Gerald Robinson, charged with murder and facing a possible sentence of life in jail if convicted, has been on leave from his priestly duties since his arrest in 2004. He has pleaded not guilty.

The crime occurred in a hospital chapel in downtown Toledo on Saturday of Easter week in 1980. Investigators said the nun, Margaret Ann Pahl, 71, was strangled and then stabbed up to 32 times.

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Police reopened the case in 2003 and arrested Robinson in April 2004. The cold case squad said it suspected that blood spatters left at the crime scene matched a letter opener in Robinson's possession.

After his arrest investigators said they believed a "ceremony" had taken place inside the chapel in conjunction with the slaying but did not elaborate. Robinson is the only one who has been charged.

Several events led to the case being reopened. In June 2003, an unidentified woman went to the Toledo Diocese seeking reimbursement for her therapy. She presented officials there with a letter claiming she was a childhood victim of clerical sexual abuse by Robinson, according to the Toledo Blade, which obtained a copy of the letter.

The woman claimed to be the victim of Satanic ritualistic sexual abuse perpetrated by a number of priests who were involved in a cult, the newspaper said.

Yow.

Good times.

Is there a "baby" out there?! His child?!

I report, you decide.

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Moving on...to the Great White North.

Brandoland visitor "The Exile" had a great post yesterday re: "Ugly Americans" and traveling abroad as a "Canadian":

Do's and don'ts for looking Canadian.

Don't: Put a maple leaf on your backpack. Trick is too well known.

Do: Clip a Tim Horton's cup to your backpack with a caribiner. (Note: this trick is also starting to get known, so it may not work too much longer).

Don't: Wear a generic canadian t-shirt. And definitely not the old Molson "I AM CANADIAN!" t-shirt. Even a University of Toronto t-shirt may be too obvious. And University of Calgary doesn't count as Canada. Because Alberta is actually part of the U.S.

Do: Wear a t-shirt from the Univ. of British Columbia, Queen's (if you're white and well off), Ryerson, Carleton, Concordia.

Don't: pretend you can pass as Canadian without actually knowing something about Canada. That used to work, but not any more.

Do: enjoy hockey, but with the understanding that this brings you no happiness because the Leafs suck and the Habs (Canadiens) and Sens (Senators) always end up losing in the playoffs to some southern US city team whose players are actually all from Quebec.

Don't: say "eh" or "aboot."

Do: Know what 'Canadian tire money" is, even though you don't actually have to carry any.

Don't: mistakenly think that Canadians are actually bilingual. Francophone Canadians are. Anglophone Canadians mostly aren't (yes, they studied French in school, but their teachers were mostly terrible). If you are an English speaker and are pretending you are from Quebec (gnerally not a good idea anyway), be tolerant and non-racist in all ways EXCEPT when talking about the French Quebecois.

Don't: think that knowing about Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, the Guess Who, Gordon Lightfoot, Avril Lavigne, or (heaven forbid) Shania Twain or Anne Murray will get you anywhere. If you have to talk about music, try your luck with Triumph or you're in your 40s, the Tragically Hip if you're in your 30s, Our Lady Peace, Remy Shand, Metric. Saying you used to like Alannis Morissette is OK if you fit the demographic. And Canadians also hate Celine Dion and proudly say so.

If asked about your politics, you have three options. NDP, Liberal, Green. It's OK to admit once having been a Tory, but not now.